Tá éacht déanta ag an Seanadóir Clonan inniu. Níl aon obair chomh tábhachtach leis an obair a dhéantar ar son na ndaoine atá níos laige sa chomhluadar atá againn sa tír seo. There is no work more honourable than that done for people who are weaker or labouring under a disability of one type or another. I have been in awe of what Senator Clonan has done in the past few months since I came into the House, his persistence, his vision and his cur i bhfeidhm in seeing it through. He has not tolerated any laggards among …

I would like to say a special word of welcome to the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who is here in his capacity as Minister of State for fisheries. I wish him the very best in his work. Go n-éirí go geal leat, Timmy. On 1 January 1973, we acceded to what was known at the time as the European Economic Community. A little more than a half-century has passed since. Almost universally in our history, the economic and social well-being of this country have been greatly uplifted by our being a member of the European E…

This proposed legislation is very progressive. I am delighted that as part of the programme for Government it has been given early prominence in the legislative schedule of the Houses of the Oireachtas. The disjoint between the mandatory retirement age of 65 and the age at which people can access a State pension is really counterintuitive. It is almost as if people are being penalised for being in robust good health such that they can work until 65 or even longer. At the same time, they are put into this sort of li…

At this stage in life, it takes very few things to shock me politically, but I was certainly taken aback to hear Senator Black mention that a motion on the occupied territories Bill was introduced in the Lower House this morning and that there was no Minister for foreign affairs there to hear the debate. I am sure she has a good reason she is not there but it is a bad signal for us who are interested in seeing that legislation carried through. I wish to underscore some of the comments made by my colleague, Senator …

On a point of order, I would like to apologise for my exuberant use of the phrase "laying into", but I also take issue with the Deputy Leader in suggesting that I would lay into anybody because they are a female Minister. That was a wholly pusillanimous comment that I would treat a female in any other way, in making a gender-based comment. I ask the Deputy Leader to withdraw that.

When I look around the Chamber now and earlier this evening, I am overwhelmed by the fact that practically every Member of the House to whom I have spoken informally in the last few weeks on this particular subject has shown an overwhelming sense of decency. There is a spirit of inclusion and welcoming. In light of that, I praise the people who brought the motion before us tonight and gave us a chance to ventilate our ideas about immigration and the exigencies attached to it. These have been greatly exacerbated in …

Yesterday, the Home Secretary in our neighbouring UK Parliament outlined significant changes the Government there proposes to make on immigration and the new rules that will apply thereto. We have a common travel area with the United Kingdom and a significant shared land border of nearly 500 km, with its unparalleled 275 crossings being 20 times as many as there are on the length of the USA-Canada border. This poses a great threat and challenge for the Republic because of proximity, language and policing. The Minis…

On a point of order, I would like it to be recorded that I abstained from voting in the division.

Is mian liom dul i gcomhluadar leis an Seanadóir Fitzpatrick nuair a bhí sí ag déanamh tagairt ar an bplean nua tithíochta atá foilsithe ag an Rialtas ar maidin. Delivering Homes, Building Communities is the plan being delivered and published today to give us all some hope about the dire straits in which people looking for housing find themselves. We know it all too well. Every organ of the media and every person you meet in the street who talks to a politician will say the homelessness situation is pretty dire. Th…

I will preface my remarks by saying that I spent over half a century in the classroom and working in colleges of education. When I was in primary school, I, like a lot of people, had the traumatic experience of watching children in the classroom who had difficulties with reading and working with numbers being beaten for their failures. It left a huge impression on me. When I started out as a young teacher in the early 1970s, the concept of dyslexia was rarely mentioned. We know from the history of Irish education t…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire chomh maith. The communication engendered between post offices over the years has been fairly haphazard throughout history. It may come as a surprise to people in the Chamber to know that we have had a formalised post office system in Ireland for the best part of 400 years. The notorious pervader of the wicked harrowing of the Irish population, the infamous Oliver Cromwell, in 1656 enacted a piece of legislation which, I understand, was an Act for the regularisation of the postal service…

Aontaithe.

It was over nine holes.

Is aoibhinn liom a bheith i láthair don cheist thábhachtach seo inniu. Molaim an tAire Stáit agus a fhoireann as an ualach mór airgid atá faighte aige sa bhuiséad don NPWS. It is great to see such an investment and a recognition of what is truly a very important matter for all of us. If I was to ask Members of the House and the Minister of State what is the most obvious commonality in relation to the location of national parks, what would they answer?

The Minister of State is pretty much on the money there. They are all basically in maritime counties. Just to adduce to what my colleague, Senator Flaherty, said, the midlands are left as if they had no inherent beauty at all.

Apart from the personalities, yes. It is regrettable that the midlands are not taken into the equation for as long as these considerations are being made. One of my treasured childhood memories is lying in bed at night in rural Ardagh, County Longford, and listening to the sound of the corncrake. I thought the corncrake had disappeared from the country completely. However, a couple of years ago I had the good fortune to take a week's holiday in Inishbofin and when I got off the ferry, the first thing I heard was th…

On three occasions.

Or is a person of interest.

I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: "Local authorities funding 2. A minimum of 20 per cent of the increased borrowing capacity shall be reserved for local authorities with populations under 150,000. The Housing Finance Agency shall consult with these authorities on a quarterly basis to identify priority housing needs and barriers to accessing finance. The funding shall be reviewed annually and be subject to approval from the Minister." This is a very short and reason…

In deference to what the Minister of State has said and informed the House of, I withdraw the amendment. It will be likewise with amendment No. 2.